PROTESTRA (7/28/22)

 Music in Action
A concert against gun violence 

A worthy cause. This was a benefit concert with a portion of the ticket proceeds donated to Save Our Streets and Everytown for Gun Safety. I was comped but I did make a modest donation. Now, to the music. 

dis[armed] – Yaz Lancaster, featuring Tamika Gorski and Tyler Hefferon, percussion
Soul of Remembrance – Mary D. Watkins
Kindertotenlieder – Gustav Mahler, featuring Alice Chung, mezzo-soprano

All of these works were new hearings for me. The first was for vibraphone and metallophone, with a foot-pedal drum involved, as well as paper to be crinkled. It began with audio clips of text, re guns, violence, protection, and the Second Amendment. There were also electronic squeaks and squawks, though I'm not sure how much any of those added. The percussionists played rhythmic and angular sounds. At one point, the metallophone was repositioned. It didn't seem to affect the sound at all. In addition to mallets, the players also used their bare fingertips directly on the bars of their instruments. Each also used a bow (cello/bass?) along the edge of the bars. I have actually seen and heard this technique before. Additionally, the metallophone player used a mallet on the bowed bars of the vibraphone at one point, to further distort the sound. All in all, an interesting sounding piece. 

As announced from the stage, Soul of Remembrance was one movement of a larger work. During the playing of it, there was a video display of school and mass shootings dating from Columbine in 1999 up to the present day. While effectively making its point, it was a bit heavy handed. The music itself was slow, with bowed violins and violas, and plucked strings from the basses. When the entire orchestra (brasses and woodwinds) joined in, the music was serene yet deeply rich, somewhat sad but not sorrowful, and effective. 

The Mahler is a five-song cycle with texts on the deaths of children. Though not specifically gun related, it was a good candidate to pair with the two earlier pieces. The text of all five songs was displayed visually, in both German and English, which was quite helpful. The first had an introduction from the woodwinds before the mezzo joined in. It was heartfelt, if a touch sad, with vocal lines that were clear and unadorned. The verse of text was repeated, adding drama in both the orchestral sound and the vocal lines. The next song had a somber orchestral introduction and, once again, a straightforward layout of the text in the vocal lines. A more dramatic section followed before ending with sadness that was tinged with hope. In the third song, the tone of the orchestra and the mezzo brought out the intensity of feelings of loss, while the text and tone of the music in the fourth song captured the yearning for what can never be again. The final song in the cycle had a very dramatic orchestral opening, and the text and vocal lines got right to the heart of raw rage and pain. A calmer section followed that was still incredibly sad. It ended with a section proving that even a quiet rage is also effective. 

Throughout the evening, all of the performers were quite good, with special kudos to the percussionists and the vocal soloist. Food for thought on the political/social aspects of the concert, and food for the ears on the musical aspect.

ConcertMeister